Marquette Student Journalists Earn National Awards, Nominations

Student journalists from the Marquette Messenger and MHSNews -- Marquette High's student publications -- earned multiple national honors and individual award nominations during the month of September.

The National Scholastic Press Association (NSPA) awarded last year's Messenger a critique rating of All-American with Marks of Distinction in coverage, content, visuals and presentation. The Quill and Scroll Honor Society also named last year's Messenger a George H. Gallup winner, the highest honor bestowed by Quill and Scroll.

This year's Messenger editors-in-chief, David Moss and Anvi Talyan, were also on last year's staff.

"The Messenger is a fantastic publication. It's hard to find things to critique when you can tell a lot of effort goes into every step of creating it," the Quill and Scroll judge shared. "The staff is well trained, is thorough in reporting and editing, and works hard to create designs that draw in a reader while still allowing the articles to remain at the forefront. Each year the staff continues to build on this great foundation and improve the publication. Great job!"

The NSPA also named the Messenger one of its 45 Pacemaker award finalists, honoring the nation's best scholastic student newspapers, newsmagazines and specialty magazines. The Messenger is one of only four publications from Missouri to be named a finalist.

Pacemaker finalists will be recognized and the winners announced for the first time on Nov. 9 at the NSPA Awards Ceremony during the JEA (Journalism Education Assocation)/NSPA Fall National High School Journalism Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Annabelle Miller, a 2024 Marquette graduate, served as the publication's editor-in-chief last year.

In addition, six Marquette students and recent graduates have been named national finalists in the 2024 NSPA Individual Awards competition.

• Tessa Autery (2024 graduate) - Broadcast Commentary

• Jack Favazza (2024 graduate) and David Moss - Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Reporting

• Elliott Jorgensen (2024 graduate) - Broadcast News

• Hailey Neuner (2024 graduate) - Newspaper Sports Story 

• Layla Shockley - Newspaper Front Page (two separate entries)

These students are among approximately 450 entries from around the nation chosen as finalists out of 4,800 entries judged for consideration. They are among only 43 entries from eight schools around the state of Missouri chosen as national finalists.

The individual award winners will also be announced Nov. 9 at the NSPA Awards Ceremony during the JEA/NSPA Fall National High School Journalism Convention.